* The last, twentieth toll-house is the toll-house of unmercyfulness, failing to show mercy and charity to people, and being cruel in any way

* The last, twentieth toll-house is the toll-house of unmercyfulness, failing to show mercy and charity to people, and being cruel in any way

−

==Controversy==

+

==A Fringe Belief==

−

There is controversy regarding the validity of this theory within the Orthodox Church. Some, including [[Archbishop]] [[Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa]], consider this teaching controversial, even false (describing it as gnostic or of pagan origin). Proponents argue that the main source for it are the Hagiographies (Life of saint Anthony the Great, written by saint Athanasius the Great, life of saint Basil the New, saint Theodora, etc), Liturgical books of the Church, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, the Philokalia, Dogmatics of the Orthodox Church (by saint Justin of Celie), secondly, that not a single Church Father ever wrote even one sentence expressing doubt about this teaching (which is present in the Church sense at least fourth century), and thirdly, that the biggest modern authorities of the Orthodox Church like saint Ignatius Brianchaninov<ref>A Word on Death, chapter "Aerial toll-houses"</ref> and saint Theophan the Recluse<ref>What is spiritual life, and how to obtain it, chapter "Perfect preparation for the Mystery of Repentance"</ref> insisted not only on the truthfulness, but on the necessity of this teaching in the spiritual life of a Christian.

+

Toll-houses are a fringe, fundamentalist belief within the Orthodox Church. Most mainstream church leaders, including [[Archbishop]] [[Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa]], consider this teaching controversial, even false (describing it as gnostic or of pagan origin).

==Reference==

==Reference==

Revision as of 00:19, December 20, 2009

This article or section needs a cleanup to bring it to a higher standard of quality. Recommendation:

Needs a more balanced approach (much of the text assumes that this theory is universally held). Also needs a lot of style work.

The theory of Aerial Toll-Houses regards the soul's journey after its departure from the body.

Dn. Andrew Werbiansky summarizes the theory (described in Fr. Seraphim Rose's book The Soul After Death) as follows: "following a person's death the soul leaves the body and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm which is ruled by demons. The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as "toll-houses" where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell."[1]

According to teaching of the Church, every person has demons that attack him, and "shoot their arrows at them", as Church Fathers say, that "arrows" being thoughts that suggest commiting sins. These demons write down every sin that they persuaded people to do, and even thoughts that people accepted and complied with, but did not, for what ever reason, actually actualize them. When a person repents for a sin, and confesses it in the Holy Mystery (/Sacrament) of Confession [2], it is by God's Grace and Power erased from the demon's papers.

When the soul dies, on the third day it is carried by angels towards Heaven. On that way, they must go past 20 aerial toll-houses, which are huge groups of demons arranged according to specific kinds of sins. When a soul accompanied by angels gets to a toll-house, demons that tempted that soul during her life approach and accuse it for sins. The sins that are written on papers of demons have to be "payed for" by persons good deeds in life, such as prayer, fasting, asceticism, doing works of mercy, etc.

According to Hagiografies, and the accounts of saints that have passed the aerial toll-houses, and talked about it in their appearances to various holy man, the demon often accuse the soul of sins that they tempted her with, but it didn't comply with, of sins that she repented for, and in that cases one of the angels, the one which was the persons guardian angel, speaks for the person, saying that those are lies, and that payment is not necessary, taking the soul to the next toll-house.

If a persons has sins that it didn't repent for, and does not have enough good deeds to pay them off, the demons of that toll-house grab him, and take him to hell.

On the first aerial toll-house, the soul is questioned about the sins of the tongue, such as- empty words, dirty talk, insulting people, ridicule, singing worldly songs, too much or loud laughter, and similar sins

The second is the toll-house of lies- besides plain lying also- braking oaths, braking vows given to God, taking God's name in vain, hiding sins during confession, and similar

The third is the toll-house of slander- judging, humiliating, embarassing, mocking and laughing at people, and similar

The fourth is the toll-house of gluttony- overeating, drunkenness, eating between meals, eating without prayer, not holding fasts, choosing tasty over plain food, eating when not hungry, and similar

The fifth is the toll-house of laziness- where the soul is questioned about every day and hour spent in laziness, neglect of serving God, of prayer, and missing Church services, and also not earning money by honest and hard word, not working as much as you are paid, and all similar sins

Contents

A Fringe Belief

Toll-houses are a fringe, fundamentalist belief within the Orthodox Church. Most mainstream church leaders, including ArchbishopLazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa, consider this teaching controversial, even false (describing it as gnostic or of pagan origin).